I measure the peace in my life by how many times I need to wear pants in a week. Of course, once for church is a given, but beyond that, my blood pressure increases.

Tuesday and Wednesday I put on pants to see a dentist about my broken tooth. Dentists + pants is much worse than pants alone.

Today I had to wear pants to visit with IHNFA (the Honduran equivalent of Child Protective Services). It's been years since we had to set foot in that building but we've stirred up trouble by trying to procure Reynaldo's birth certificate, which he needs to graduate sixth grade. They called Paula yesterday to say that Reynaldo had an interview today and needed some tests to determine whether he or his brother was older.

We got to IHNFA's office and they dropped a bomb. They brought in the older brother. They acted like it was supposed to be some happy, family reunion. I immediately asked what he was doing here and quietly reminded them of the reason the brother was removed, for abusing the other boys including Reynaldo. They carried on with their interview while Timothy and I left to squander a few hours in the smog covered city of Comayagua.

When we returned it was time for Rey to leave, but not before a private conference with me, IHNFA's director and IHNFA's own psychologist. They acted surprised that I would be upset by the brother's return. They also asked if I knew that there was a possibility of the brothers living together. I immediately responded with "not in our house". They said no, not in our house, somewhere else. I told them that they are in charge and they can do what they want, but that it was not a good idea to take a child from a good home, with lots of support for his education, food, comfort, safety to take him to a shelter, with a lot of other kids, in a dangerous situation, just so the two can be together.

It is IHNFA's goal to keep siblings together, but in this case, it is not wise, at all.

As for me, I've got to put the pants in the laundry basket and hope not to see them until Sunday.